Calculus and Football Games
by monochromemermaid
Summary: Minho is the star athlete in his high school, he can play anything, from football to lacrosse, and he's amazing at track and field. The only thing he can't conquer is calculus. What happens when the shy geeky boy next to him helps him out? (Modern Day High School Thominho AU)


"You've got to be shucking kidding me." Minho muttered to himself, glancing down at the latest pop quiz his teacher had passed out. _Calculus_. Out of all the math classes available, the guidance couselors made him take calculus._ "It'll be fun" they said, "You'll do better this year" they said. I barely passed pre-calc, why couldn't they put me in math modeling or statistics? _Minho stared blankly at the numbers in front of him. He was down to the last two problems on the six problem quiz. The first part was limits and logs, easy. But absolute maxima and minimum? It was the derivatives that really messed him up, after that part was taken care of, he got the rest easy.

He was staring at the equation helplessly, as if the answers were just gonna write themselves down when he felt it. It was a tiny feeling on his arm and it had been gone in a second but it was enough for him to look up. He saw the boy next to him, Thomas, looking straight at him.

Thomas wasn't your typical geek. Minho wasn't even really sure why he was labeled a geek in the first place. He'd seen the guy in gym class and he could run faster than most of the guys on track, even Ben and Gally. Thomas was really quiet though, he had never even spoken to Minho before so Minho couldn't exactly judge him. Then again, Minho had never spoken to him either. Thomas glanced back to the teacher before sliding his paper over to the edge of the desk, just enough so Minho could see.

Minho saw the derivative written just big enough for him to see, and that was all he needed. He looked up to shoot the guy a "thanks for saving my ass" look, but Thomas was already scribbling down the answers to the next problem. Minho just shrugged it off, getting back to work. He'd thank the guy later. He went on to the next problem only to see he needed to find the derivative again.

He was about to give up all hope when the phone rang. The teacher, Mrs. Paige, went to answer it and Thomas stood up to hand in his quiz. However, just as Thomas was walking past, he dropped his pencil on the floor. He bent down to pick it up and Minho watched him, confused.

"Use the chain rule." Thomas whispered, before standing and walking to the back of the classroom. Minho watched as he placed his quiz on the teacher's desk before talking to Mrs. Paige quietly. Mrs. Paige nodded and with that Thomas walked out the door, books in hand. _Guess I won't be able to thank him after class, which reminds me, the chain rule. _Minho thought back to the lessons during the previous week and remembered he had to bring the exponent to the front, subtract one from the exponent, and multiply the constant by the derivate of whatever's inside the parenthesis.

He scrawled down his answer just as the bell rang and all of his classmates stood up, leaving the room. Minho walked to Mrs. Paige and handed her the quiz, feeling slightly more confident than usual.

"Let's hope this quiz is an improvement, for your elligiblity's sake." She said sternly before sitting down and starting to grade them. Minho took that as his queue and walked out of the room.

"So, how'd you do this time shank?" One of his best friends, Newt, came walking up beside him in the hallways. Alby came up on his other side.

"Yeah, are you good for this week's game?"

"I think so. I have a pretty good feeling about that one." Minho said glancing around the halls. Still, Thomas was nowhere to be found. Newt and Alby were rambling on about the game against their rival school, but Minho was too preoccupied, looking for Thomas. If it weren't for him, Minho was sure his ass would be on the bench that Friday.

"You ready to go Minho?" Newt asked as the blond boy finished packing up his books for the day. Minho gave one last look before nodding, turning to his friend.

"Yeah, let's go." Minho would thank Thomas tomorrow for sure. He had to make it up to him.

* * *

By calculus the next day, Minho still hadn't seen Thomas anywhere. He was sitting in Mrs. Paige's room as the bell rang. _Huh, he must not be here today. _Minho looked at the empty desk beside him. Mrs. Paige stood in front of the room with a stack of papers.

"Alright class, I graded your quizzes and-" She was interrupted by the door opening and Thomas walking in, a pink pass in his hand.

"I have a pass." He mumbled quietly, handing the pink paper to Mrs. Paige. "Sorry for interrupting." He said, walking back to his desk. Minho watched as the boy stumbled to his seat, tripping on the leg of his desk as he sat down. Thomas looked down at his books, his cheeks tinging a slight red. Minho felt his lips curve into a smile _'Hey, he's kind of cute. Wait, what?' _He thought to himself. He shook the thoughts out of his head and refocused on what Mrs. Paige was saying.

"So, I'll hand these pack out then we're gonna start on applying derivatives to real life situations." The entire class groaned as she just smiled and began giving back the quizzes.

"I'm impressed Minho. Keep this up and you might get yourself up to a C+ average." Mrs Paige said to him, handing back the quiz. Minho looked at the numbers written in red at the top of the paper. It read "90%". He couldn't believe, he hadn't gotten anything higher than an 85 all year! He looked over at Thomas who was stuffing his quiz in his binder.

The class droned on and on, Minho spent half the time tuning in and out of Mrs. Paige going over the notes. He had to make it up to Thomas in some way. Maybe he could invite Thomas out for pizza after the game with some of the guys. He was sure Newt and Alby wouldn't mind. He actually thought they'd like Thomas.

The bell brought Minho out of his thoughts, he hadn't even realized the period was already over. He looked next to him, expecting to see Thomas packing up but the desk was empty. Instead, the other boy was halfway out the door. Minho grabbed his books and ran after him.

"Hey, Thomas, wait up!" Minho yelled, running after the guy in the crowded hallways. Thomas stopped in his tracks and turned around, waiting for Minho to catch up.

"You know my name?" Thomas asked, sounding surprised.

"Of course I do, we've been in the same classes since kindergarten. Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks, you know, for helping me out." Minho said. Thomas looked at the floor, scratching the back of his neck.

"Uh, no problem. It was a one time thing though, so don't get any ideas." Thomas blushed and Minho watched as the other boy looked up at him. Minho couldn't help but smirk as the two of them began walking down the hall.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to say thanks. There's a big game tomorrow night, are you going?" Minho asked, glancing over at the boy next to him. Thomas just shook his head.

"Nah, football isn't typically my thing."

"Come on, give it a try. Me and a few of the guys usually go out for some pizza after the game, you should come." Minho said, nudging Thomas with his elbow.

"I don't know..." Minho could tell he was cracking.

"It's on me? I'll even give you a ride." Minho pushed a little further and watched as Thomas smiled and nodded, looking over at the athlete.

"Alright, deal. I'll see you tomorrow." Thomas said before turning down the hallway. Minho watched as the boy grabbed the straps of his backpack and headed out the main doors.

"Hey, who was that?" Newt asked, his British accent more obvious than usual. Minho turned to see his friends, Gally, Alby, and Newt walking up to him.

"That, was the dude who saved my ass from sitting on the bench tomorrow and helped me get a 90 on that calc quiz." Minho said, joining them as they walked out the school doors. "I hope you don't mind but I inivited him out with us tomorrow night. I kind of owe him."

"We don't mind. We all kind of owe him if he helped you stay eligble, you're our best wide receiver." Alby said as they walked up to their cars. Minho looked around the parking lot for Thomas once more, but he couldn't spot him anywhere.

"Aye, you coming mate?" Newt asked, standing by his car. Minho gave one last glance before nodding.

"Yeah." He didn't know why but he just couldn't stop thinking about Thomas. There was just something there...

* * *

**_The Next Night:_**

The Gladers ended up defeating the Scorchers 35 to 21. It was a huge victory and Minho had scored three of the five touchdowns. Newt didn't miss a single field goal and Alby made the best plays as the first string quarterback. As the three of them were walking out of the locker room, Minho saw Thomas standing against the walls, leaning with his arms crossed. Minho smiled, he looked so out of place and uncomfortable next to all the so-called popular guys and girlfriends that were waiting for the team.

"Hey Thomas!" Minho yelled over the crowd as he walked towards him. Thomas looked up and smiled slightly, meeting them halfway across the pavement. "Thomas, this is Alby and Newt." He said, gesturing to his friends. "Guys, this is Thomas." He watched as the three of them shook hands and introduced themselves again. "Ready to go?"

The night was a lot better than Minho thought it would be. For once, Newt and Alby didn't hold hands and do the thing where they stare lovingly into each other's eyes and forget about everyone else around them. Newt and Alby included Thomas in all the conversations, whether it was about school or sports or hobbies.

"So, Thomas, you ever do any sports?" Newt asked as he stuffed a slice of pizza into his mouth. The boy in question just looked down at the table shyly before responding.

"Uh, I've never really done sports except in gym, but I like to run a lot. I can run for miles on a treadmill."

"Dude, you should so do track this year! You're faster than most of the other guys anyway, I've seen you in gym. You'd be great." Minho didn't realize what he had said until the words were out of his mouth. Thomas blushed and looked towards him, a small smile curving at the top of his lips.

"Really?"

"Yeah, totally. You should do it." Minho just stuffed some garlic knots into his mouth before he could say anything else embarrassing. He saw Newt and Alby giving him weird looks out of the corner of his eyes but he ignored it, focusing on Thomas who was looking back at him with a real, genuine smile. He nodded before looking down at the table (something Minho had gathered was a habit of his).

"You know what? I'll think about it." Thomas said. The rest of the night continued and the four of them got along so well, laughing when Alby spilled Coca Cola all over his pants. Newt immediately started to help him clean up. Minho just laughed at the couple before turning to Thomas.

"You should definitely come to the games more often."

"Yeah, I agree. You're way more fun than Gally. All Gally does is talk about the game and girls." Newt chimed in with agreement.

"Well, I have to admit this is a lot better than sitting at home with my little brother." He said, finishing off the rest of his soda.

"Well, from now on you're invited to all of our after-game celebrations. You can keep Minho company so he doesn't feel so left out." Minho glared at his friend, Thomas just looked between the two of them, confused. Before his friends could say any more stupid klunk, Minho stood up.

"Well, as fun as this was, it's getting late. Come on Thomas, I'll give you a ride home." Thomas stood up and said goodbye to Newt and Alby before the two of them made their way to Minho's car.

"So, that was fun." Thomas said as the two of them pulled off towards the other side of town.

"Yeah, they're pretty cool guys. I've been friends with them since junior high." Minho said. The car was filled with a comfortable break in conversation, the radio played some random song but it was more like background noise.

"I actually had a lot of fun tonight. Thanks for inviting me." Thomas said, looking down and playing with his hands. Minho just smiled as he quietly observed the boy in the passenger seat.

"It was the least I could do. Thanks for helping me, I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but you really did help." Minho said quietly as he pulled up in front of the address Thomas had given him.

"So, uh, listen. I know you don't do so well in calculus, especially with derivatives. I noticed you missed like, half the notes Mrs. Paige did, and even I'm struggling with the word problems." Thomas admitted, playing with the straps of his backpack as he got ready to get out of the car. Minho was thinking about how cute it was until he heard 'word problems'.

"Wait, what word problems?" He asked. He didn't remember anything about word problems. Thomas just chuckled and glanced up at the older boy.

"That's kind of my point. So I was wondering if you wanted me to tutor you? Like, once a week you can come over and I can help. You know, if you want?" Thomas looked up at Minho and suddenly, there was this weird feeling around them. It felt weird to be looking into his eyes, but at the same time it was a good kind of weird. It was different. He noticed that the shy boy had brown eyes that shined like amber and molasses, and that they looked anxious. _Maybe that's because you didn't answer him yet idiot._

"That would be great, actually. Math is really kicking my ass this year, and it's just the beginning of the second quarter." Thomas smiled and nodded, grabbing his phone out of his pocket and handing it to Minho.

"Alright, well just put your number in. I'll text you and we'll pick a day that works for both of us." Minho quickly typed his number into the other boy's phone before handing it back, smiling. "Oh, thanks for the pizza and the ride. I actually had a great time with your friends." Thomas admitted.

"You should come more often. Whenever Gally ditches, I'm totally the third wheel." Minho said. Thomas looked up, a slight tinge of red creeping up his cheeks and confusion in his eyes.

"Wait, Newt and Alby are...?"

"Yeah, since sophomore year. It's kind of gross sometimes when they forget I'm there." Minho laughed lightly and Thomas just smiled and looked down again as his blush deepened.

"Oh, I had no idea." An awkward, heavy silence filled the air around them and Minho couldn't help but keep his eyes on the shy boy, watching and memorizing his little habits. "Well, I guess I'll see you Monday then." Thomas said, opening up the car door.

"Yeah, man. Don't be a stranger, alright? We should hang out sometime, you know, other than for you to teach me this calculus stuff." Minho said, slightly nervous that Thomas would reject the idea. Thomas looked up, an expression of surprise on his face which quickly melted into a small smile.

"Yeah, sounds good. Thanks Minho." And with that, Thomas stepped out of the car, closing the door behind him and walking up towards his house. Minho couldn't help but smile as he sat back in his car. Thomas was pretty cute, and Minho had never really thought anybody was cute before. There was just something there between them. He knew Alby and Newt were gonna grill him later about "hiding a secret boyfriend" but he didn't mind. He was really looking forward to getting to know Thomas.

* * *

**A.N.- So guys, that was my first Maze Runner piece I published on here. It's also on my Tumblr too, where I publish all my other TMR stuff. It's on my profile so check it out if you'd like. Well, let me know if you liked it or not, message me or review, whichever. Hope you Thominho fans liked it! **

**If you liked it and want me to make it into a short multi-chap, let me know! (Because I seriously will like I have ideas)**


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